If there is one Collectible Card Game (CCG) that has stood the test of time, it would be Magic: The Gathering. In Magic, you take up the identity of a sorcerer who must battle an opposing sorcerer for control of a plane of magic. Magic has been around since the early ?90s, and has grown to millions of players worldwide. With the expansion of the Internet, and the acceptance of online gameplay, there was just one logical step for Wizards of the Coast - to bring Magic: The Gathering to the PC as an online game.

First introduced in 2002, Magic Online has gathered over 200,000 registered players together all on a centralized server. For those of you who are Magic players, but can never seem to find anyone in your area to play against, there are around 2 million games played on Magic Online every month, so finding a partner will never be more than a click away.

In Magic Online, you do everything as you did in the physical game of Magic. No longer would you need to drive to the store to buy a new deck of cards, only to then find out that they are sold out. Every supported deck expansion can be purchased in Wizard?s online store, and the cards are then instantly available in your Magic Online collection. Magic Online also allows you to organize your cards very easily, and provide statistics for each of your assembled decks.

Another convenience of online is that anywhere you have access to a computer, you can play Magic. You never have to worry about bringing your cards with you, as you can just install the client, sign on to your account, and there are your decks, ready to play.

Recently announced by Wizards is an update to their Magic Online client, now at version 3.0. This client promises enhancements such as an optimized play space, full card zoom-in allowing you to see artwork and text on each card, more 3D player avatars, and full screen customization, to name a few.

During my playtest of this client, I noticed it was a bit more intuitive than the previous version that I had worked with. Things that I thought should be there in the old version were there, and these new features help solidify the overall gameplay of Magic Online. Expect more details of Magic Online 3.0 in a few days, as I give the client a more thorough playtest.